UK foreign visitors will 'need biometric visas'

24dash.com (UK) ^ | 3/28/07 | Ian Morgan

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Foreigners visiting Britain will need biometric visas to enter the country under plans to tighten immigration, Home Secretary John Reid said today.

Mr Reid said a series of measures announced today would include the export of border controls to visitors' country of origin.

"We're putting at the point of departure from the country you're leaving the requirement to enter visa, and that will apply to about half the countries in the world by the end of 2008," he told Sky News.

"If you want to come from those countries, you have to have a visa before you leave."

He said new technology was being introduced so visitors would also have to give a fingerprint or an iris record, to prevent abuses in which would-be immigrants destroy their paper documents.

The Government would be looking at other countries the following year, including those which do not currently have visa requirements to come to the UK, and abuses such as forced marriages which bring people to Britain, he said.

"It's the next stage in a six or seven-year plan, year in year out, to restore really effective control to the tracking of people in and out of our country," he said.

"The people's highest priority in this country is to see a fair and effective management of immigration."

The Government is doubling the amount of money being put into border enforcement, integrating border officials and introducing uniforms for them, Mr Reid added.

"The key thing that underlines every single one of these things is identification management, biometrics, identity cards, and from next year we are introducing that for every foreign visitor who comes to this country," he said.

He ruled out suggestions of an amnesty for those already in the country, saying it would send out a message encouraging people to come to the UK.

Home Office minister Liam Byrne will set out the measures for the UK's borders and visa system later today.

He will also unveil more about plans for an independent committee including business leaders, trade unionists and local authorities to advise government on what limits should be imposed on migrant workers.

The Migration and Advisory Committee (MAC), first announced last November, will help set the levels for a new points-based immigration system to be introduced next year.

The new system will consolidate more than 80 existing managed migration routes into five tiers, ranging from highly skilled to temporary workers and students.

The tests, based on age, earnings record, qualifications and work experience, will give preference to young, highly skilled professionals and entrepreneurs.

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'The tests, based on age, earnings record, qualifications and work experience, will give preference to young, highly skilled professionals and entrepreneurs'


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